Saturday 22nd Febuary - Pai day 1

Slept well and woke up 9am. This place is actually quite nice in the daylight, albeit basic and you have to go downstairs to find a loo! OK the shower room was foul glad I'm moving on from here! Checked out and relocated to the Family Bungalows, getting a hut for 150 baht again. Is so gorgeous crossing the bamboo bridge over the river and then walking on the path through the flowers to get to no.7. Its actually stunning, out of some fairytale. The hut is very small but it is ample. I have a double matttress on the floor with a mosquito net, and a fan and one electricity socket and indoor and patio light. I also have a quilt ;) I can see the mountains from my balcony. I've had such a cool day. I treated myself to an America breakfast - needed some western food! - for 120 baht. Think it was the first coffee Ive had sine I got here. I realised I have severely minimised my caffeine intake in Thailand, and increased my water consumpion no end so its all good even if I'm not going to a gym! I went to hire a moped for 100 baht for 24 hours and saw Nelson at 9/11. We rode up to Tree House to collet My Italian guy aka lailai (his name is Emmanuel but Thai people cant say it so everyone knows him as Lai lai I didnt think to ask how it was slept though! - and onto an out of the way river where we had a dip and I epilated my legs. I know I have no shame! The scenery in this place is stunning. I am taking pictures everywhere I go because it is so beautoful. There is a magic, feel good atmosphere about Pai. I was relieved that the sun was just as strong in the day as I have thus far been accustomed to (!) but it does severely drop at night.

We rode on to a wonderful waterful called Ma Poeng. It was quite busy, being Sunday with the Thais and children off school but was still great. I dont know what I enjoy more about this place but there is something very freeing about being able to hop on a moped and go wherever you want. I think I appreciate it more because I havn't had my own car for so many years. I am not wearing a helmet because its frankly a pain in the arse and nobody does anyway. (If you're reading this, don't tell my Mum!)

I have decided I love motorbikes. It is so much more laid back than England - sometimes you see 4 people on one! Wow how cheap would that be if the girls were here too! I could happily stay in this region and use it as a base to explore the whole of northern Thailand by bike. It is so tempting. It is so tempting just to stay here. To spend weeks in this wonderful place exploring every nook and cranny. Anyway...

Leaving the waterfall as the sun went down, I said bye to lai lai as he had to go and do his bonfire (!) and I went to watch the sunset at the Pai canyon. Again stunning. Panoramic views of mountains on both sides of the valley. I motored back towards Pai to do to this theatre thing I been handed a flyer about earlier in the day, - cyrogenics I think it was called but I've lost the flyer - which while it didn't make complete sense to me was very visually interesting and just good to be around theatre in whatever form. I also got chatting to a guy who runs meditation courses nearby. It has no spiritual emphasis and to be honest I m quite interested only of course I'm moving onto Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia...

Anyway, came back to the bungalows would normally shower right about now but its too cold!!

I chugged up to the Tree House (I found it OK!) just in time to get some leftover food at about 9.30pm. I wanted and needed a fire as it is so bloody cold! Its the only thing about this place that isnt so great! Also i imagine Id get bored here after a while because theres not much to do in the evenings apart from drink which I'm not really that in to. I imagine thats what its like for my brother Ed who does a lot of ski and summer seasons in holoday resorts. Me and Lai lai headed into town to Tik tak or something (really should pay more attention to names - normally I refer to a map while writing my blog to remember where I've just been!) - and who should I see but the guys from Chang Mai who I had hung out my very first night when I arrived late from Sukkothie. It was good to see a friendly face, and I also met some new people such as Max from New York. We both wanted to go to Mae Hong Song which is a long motorbike ride away (by my standards) at about 3 hours or so, however there are some good caves on the way which are worth seeing and which I intend to use to break up my journey. Max is 23, a writer, and we gossiped about the industry and had a silly time trying to switch accents. Neither of us was very good. In fact he distincly sounded like some french porn star. It was very very funny. I stayed up with him by the bonfire far too late really. I'll regret it tomorrow. But hey ho. We have decided to leave tomorrow at 3 o clock. Road trip! Yay! I hope we get there without complication, and of course, any accidents. We have decided to share a bike to help with costs and so we get breaks from driving. Will be nice to have the company I doubt I'd do it by myself because so long on a bike.

I went to sleep at like 4.30am. Why oh why.

Money spent: 150 baht last nights room (single room, shared bathroom, no towel.) 100 baht moped hire (24 hours,) 70 baht petrol, 120 american breakfast, 5 baht water, batteries 25 baht, 7 baht water, 20 baht coke. 150 baht tonights accomodation (hut, shared bathroom, no towel, gorgeous views!, 150 baht mojito, 50 baht happy house gin and lemonade. TOTAL 847 / 16.94

Best thing: Buzzing about and discovering places on mopeds
Worst thing: Having tummy cramps from last nights chicken and the time of the month (sorry, guys).